Folk music has no nameable origin. It’s more tradition than entertainment. There are folk songs that date so far back, they can be considered oral histories. Certainly, in America, songs by traditional American folksingers like Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie tell stories that often don’t even appear in history books.
From its origins, folk music has been the music of the working class. It is community-focused and has rarely enjoyed commercial success. By definition, it is something anyone can understand and in which everyone is welcome to participate. Folk songs range in subject matter from war, work, civil rights, and economic hardship to nonsense, satire and, of course, love songs.